Christy Ring Cup

Christy Ring Cup
Irish	Corn Chríostóir Uí Rinn
Founded	2005
Title holders	Kerry (1st title)
First winner	Westmeath
Most titles	Westmeath (3 titles)

The Christy Ring Cup is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2005 for middle-ranking hurling teams in Ireland.

The series of games are played during the summer months with the Christy Ring Cup final being played in July in Croke Park, Dublin. The prize for the winning team is the Christy Ring Cup, named after Christy Ring of Cork, regarded as one the greatest hurlers of all-time.

The Christy Ring Cup currently consists of several stages. In the present format, it begins in early May with the first round of the competition. The winners and losers of these games are then divided into two groups where another series of games are played. Following this, four teams emerge to contest the knock-out phase of the competition via two lone quarter-finals.

Eight teams currently participate in the championship, the most dominant teams coming from the province of Leinster, Westmeath and Carlow. At least one of these teams have appeared in all six Christy Ring Cup finals, while Westmeath with three have the most titles.

Format

2005-2007

The ten participating counties of the Christy Ring Cup were divided into two groups of five and play in a round-robin format, guaranteeing at least four games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out semi-finals of the competition.

The bottom two teams of both groups were involved in a four-way relegation play-off with the eventual loser being relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup.

The prize for the winners of the final was promotion to the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

2008

The twelve participating counties of the Christy Ring Cup were divided into four groups of three and play in a round-robin format, guaranteeing at least two games each. The eventual group winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out quarter-finals of the competition.

The bottom team in each group went into the relegation play-offs. The eventual losers were relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup.

2009-2010

The Christy Ring Cup has a double elimination format - each of the eight teams will play at least two games before being eliminated from the competition.

• The eight teams play four Round 1 matches.
  • The winners in Round 1 advance to Round 2A.
  • The losers in Round 1 go into to Round 2B.
• There are two Round 2A matches.
  • The winners in Round 2A advance to the semi-finals.
  • The losers in Round 2A go into to the quarter-finals.
• There are two Round 2B matches.
  • The winners in Round 2B advance to the quarter-finals.
  • The losers in Round 2B go into the relegation playoff.
    • The losers of the relegation playoff are relegated to the Nicky Rackard Cup for 2011.
• There are two quarter-final matches between the Round 2A losers and Round 2B winners.
  • The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals.
  • The losers of the quarter-finals are eliminated.
• There are two semi-final matches between the Round 2A winners and the quarter-final winners.
  • The winners of the semi-finals advance to the final.
  • The losers of the semi-finals are eliminated.
• The winners of the final win the Christy Ring Cup for 2010 and are promoted to the Liam McCarthy Cup for 2011.

Past winners

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Score	Venue	Winning Captain	Losing Captain
2005 Details	Westmeath	1-23 (26)	Down	2-18 (24)	Croke Park, Dublin	John Shaw	Simon Wilson
2006 Details	Antrim	5-13 (28)	Carlow	1-07 (10)	Croke Park, Dublin	Karl McKeegan	Robbie Foley
2007 Details	Westmeath	2-15 (21)	Kildare	0-13 (13)	Croke Park, Dublin	Darren McCormack	Colm Buggy
2008 Details	Carlow	3-22 (31)	Westmeath	4-16 (28)	O'Connor Park, Tullamore	Edward Coady	Brendan Murtagh
2009 Details	Carlow	1-15 (18)	Down	0-14 (14)	Croke Park, Dublin	Mark Brennan	Graham Clarke
2010 Details	Westmeath	2-16 (22)	Kerry	1-18 (21)	Croke Park, Dublin	Andrew Mitchell	Colin Harris
2011 Details	Kerry	2-21 (27)	Wicklow	2-08 (14)	Croke Park, Dublin	Mikey Boyle

See also